NEW BERLIN, Wis. – Following the program's second-straight Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) regular season championship in 2023, Yellowjacket men's tennis head coach CeeJay Schaffner decided to beef up the non-conference schedule for his squad.
 
Following a rugged fall schedule that involved a multi-day run at the ITA Regional, the Yellowjackets flipped the calendar to 2024 and started working their way through more of the meat grinder. After a loss to Carroll Friday, it didn't get any easier for the Yellowjackets, as they took on UW-Whitewater Saturday afternoon.
 
The Warhawks hadn't played since early October and entered play with a record of 0-1, but you'd never know they were a team coming off an almost four-month layoff. UW-Whitewater started fast and never trailed, defeating the Yellowjackets 8-1 Saturday at the New Berlin Tennis Club.
 
With the loss, the Yellowjackets' overall record in 2023-24 falls to 1-3.
 
Ren Kurachi (Yokohama, Japan/Yokosuka Gakuin) earned the lone point for the Yellowjackets Saturday. After falling along with teammate Igor Guetten Chaves (Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil/Colégio Adventista) at No. 1 doubles, Kurachi bounced back and picked up the win at No. 2 singles. Kurachi defeated Whitewater's Tyler Nelson in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4. The win advanced Kurachi's singles record to 2-3 in 2023-24.
 
Match Notes

• All-time, Kurachi has a singles record of 17-10.
• Whitewater swept the doubles matches, taking No. 1 doubles by a score of 8-0, while taking both No. 2 and No. 3 doubles 8-3.
• Davide Pelletti (Prado, Brazil) and Jacob Zacharias (Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) teamed up at No. 2 doubles, while Yash Chhabra (Jaipur, Rajasthan/Sanskar School) and Lucca Paladini (Blumenu, Brazil/Colegio Saber) were paired at No. 3 doubles for the Yellowjackets.
• In singles play, Guetten Chaves played at No. 1 singles, while Sharan Kanugovi (Bangalore, Karnataka/New Baldwin International School) played at No. 3 singles. Chhabra, Paladini and Vitor Sakakibara (São Paulo, Brazil/Colégio Saber) played at Nos. 4-6, respectively.
• All six singles matches finished in straight sets.
• Saturday marked the first-ever meeting between the Yellowjackets and the Warhawks in men's tennis.

The Yellowjackets will be back in action Saturday, Feb. 3 when they take on Wartburg and Macalester at the Lifetime Tennis Center in Bloomington, Minn. The Wartburg match will get underway at 11 a.m. while the Macalester match will be at 5 p.m.
  Read Full Article